LONDON - Gabriel Jesus opened his Manchester City account in a 4-0 romp at West Ham United on Wednesday that sent his side level with fourth-place Liverpool in the Premier League.
Pep Guardiola's side took full advantage of slip-ups by the other teams in the leading pack on Tuesday to move level on points with Liverpool, 10 points below leaders Chelsea. But Manchester United could not follow suit, a damaging 0-0 draw at home to struggling Hull City leaving Jose Mourinho's men four points below Liverpool and City in sixth place.
Just a point now separates the teams sitting second, third, fourth and fifth, with Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal level on 47 points, a point above Liverpool and City. Guardiola made two bold selection choices at West Ham's London Stadium, dropping goalkeeper Claudio Bravo for Willy Caballero and keeping City talisman Sergio Aguero on the bench.
But it did not matter as the visitors streaked into a 3-0 lead inside 39 minutes through goals by Kevin De Bruyne, David Silva and Jesus, their recent acquisition from Palmeiras. De Bruyne opened the scoring in the 17th minute, picking up a loose ball and exchanging passes with Jesus before sweeping a first-time shot into the bottom-right corner.
Leroy Sane created the second goal four minutes later, neatly nutmegging Sam Byram and slipping past West Ham debutant Jose Fonte before squaring for Silva to convert at the back post. Jesus then opened his account with a delightfully constructed goal, the 19-year-old Brazil starlet slotting in after Sane's through ball had been steered across goal by Raheem Sterling. West Ham manager Slaven Bilic gave Robert Snodgrass his debut as a 64th-minute substitute following his move from Hull. But three minutes later Yaya Toure made it 4-0 from the penalty spot after Sterling was clumsily fouled by Fonte. Hull's draw at Old Trafford gave them a small measure of revenge for last week's League Cup semi-final defeat at Manchester United's hands.
Mourinho made nine changes to the United team that had crushed Wigan Athletic 4-0 in the FA Cup on Sunday, but Hull goalkeeper Eldin Jakupovic repelled everything the hosts threw his way. He saved spectacularly from Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Paul Pogba in the first half and produced a stunning goal-line to block to deny substitute Juan Mata what seemed a certain goal in the second half.
United continue to press, but Hull new boy Lazar Markovic almost completed a smash-and-grab win in the 86th minute, the on-loan Liverpool winger seeing his shot come back off the post.
The point took Hull off the foot of the table, but Marco Silva's much improved side are still four points from safety.
Everton remain seventh, nine points below the Champions League places, after a 1-1 draw at Stoke City. Peter Crouch gave Stoke an early lead with his 100th Premier League goal, but Ryan Shawcross turned Seamus Coleman's cross into his own net in the 39th minute to give the visitors a point.
Results
Man City 4-0 West Ham
Stoke 1-1 Everton
Man United 0-0 Hull